Summary

Preface to “The Second Girl” – The author describes how, under apartheid, the education was designed to keep children under-educated, and how the system was representative of both colonialism and / or racism.

The Second Girl – The first part of this chapter is a biography of the author’s mother, Patricia. He describes her driven personality; her being sent to live with an aunt in deep, hard-farming poverty; and her determination to leave that life behind, which she did. He also describes her determination to not be beaten down by her suffering, saying that the past is there to be learned from; and how she worked hard to give him a better life, including making sure he learned to read and think. He remembers her saying “My job is to feed your body, feed your spirit, and feed your mind” (71) which, he says, she did...